1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to strain isolation and more specifically to a mechanical strain isolation mount for highly alignment sensitive devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain devices such as optical instruments must preserve their alignmental integrity after being subjected to high stress levels. For example, an optical instrument may be subjected to loads exceeding 50 g during the launch of a space shuttle. A current method of mounting optical instruments is to bolt the instrument to a main frame. Such a method is inapplicable to high load and subsequent stress levels experienced during a shuttle launch. The instrument can slide or creep when the main frame surface stresses exceed 500 pounds per square inch as the mount bolts deform, resulting in misalignment. Also, a state-of-the-art tangent bar consisting of an equilateral triangular base with legs mounted at the midpoint of each side is inappropriate. Each leg has mount pads which are bolted to the strained surface. A load along a leg will load the bolts and cause undesirable creep.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to preserve the alignmental integrity of a highly alignment sensitive device which is subjected to high stresses.
It is a further object of this invention to accomplish the above object simply and inexpensively.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent hereinafter in the specification and drawings which follow.